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17 Mar 2010 : Column 954W—continued
Entry Clearances: Palestinians
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received on his Department's decision not to issue visas to Palestinian olive oil producers to visit the UK during Fairtrade Fortnight; and if he will make a statement. [320376]
Mr. Woolas: I have received eight representations from Members of Parliament.
The decision to refuse entry clearance to the three Palestinian olive oil producers has been overturned after consideration by the ECO of the information provided, and the Visa Section in Amman is in the process of contacting the applicants.
European Court of Human Rights
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration he has given to (a) his policy and (b) the UK Border Agency's practice on the detention of children following the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights on 19 January 2010 regarding detention. [320127]
Mr. Woolas: In January 2010 the European Court of Human Rights ruled on a case of immigration detention in Belgium involving a mother and her children. The court ruling was not concerned with the policy on detention as such but the conditions in which the children were detained. In particular, the fact that they were held in a closed transit centre, which was not designed to house children and was not appropriate for housing children. As a consequence of this the court ruled that their detention was unlawful. The mother's detention was deemed lawful.
The UK Border Agency has 11 immigration removal centres, three of which are designed to meet the needs of families with children. We do not therefore consider that the ruling impacts on the UK's policy of detaining families with their children as a last resort to enforce their departure from the UK where they have no basis of stay and have failed to leave the country voluntarily.
Fraud: Credit Cards
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of offences related to (a) credit card and (b) mortgage fraud affecting residents in the London Borough of Bexley were reported in each of the last five years. [322183]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The information requested is not available from the police recorded crime statistics collected by the Home Office. It is not possible to separately identify credit card and mortgage fraud from other offences within the fraud and forgery offence group.
The measurement of fraud is challenging as it is known to be very substantially under-reported to the police. Financial institutions will encourage customers (both personal and business) to report cheque, plastic card or online bank account fraud directly to them and not the police in the first instance. Fraud reported to financial institutions will then only be reported to the police if they are satisfied that there is a reasonable chance of a suspect being brought to justice through police investigation.
In addition to the fraud and forgery offences which are recorded by the police, the Home Office publishes information on plastic card offences identified by the UK Card Association along with findings from the British Crime Survey (BCS). The BCS provides a measure of plastic card fraud among adult residents in households which is important because it captures data on incidents which are not reported to the police. However, neither of these sources have data at borough level.
Further information is contained in chapter 4 of 'Crime in England and Wales 2008/09', a copy of which is available in the Library.
Identity Cards
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department has commissioned (a) research and (b) other work on the possibility of introducing compulsory identity cards in future. [318713]
Alan Johnson: Identity cards are issued on a voluntary basis and the Identity and Passport Service has not commissioned any research or other work on the possible future introduction of compulsory identity cards.
Immigrants: Detainees
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many detainees were transferred from Dungavel House to immigration detention in England in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2008-09 and (c) 2009-10. [321671]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 15 March 2010]: The following table shows the number of detainees who left Dungavel House Immigration Removal Centre in the years 2007-10.
| Year of transfer | Number of transfers |
The Detainee Escorting and Population Management Unit (DEPMU) is responsible for bed space management within the UK Border Agency's detention estate. The unit seeks to minimise movements within the estate in the interests of providing a settled regime and the efficient use of escorting resources.
Movement of detainees around the estate is required for operational reasons, most often to:
Position detainees close to airports prior to removal
Position detainees for court appearances
Position detainees for hospital appointments
Position detainees for embassy/documentation interviews
Facilitate the movement of detainees to more secure locations for security/behavioural reasons
Ensure bed space is fully utilised.
The data provided includes movements for the reasons outlined above in addition to those for removal. The information is taken from data normally used for management information only. It has not been subject to the detailed checks that apply for National Statistics publications and is provisional and subject to change.
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children have been detained at each immigration detention centre in the last six months for which figures are available; and what the average period of detention was. [321957]
Mr. Woolas
[holding answer 12 March 2010]: The number of children who entered detention solely under Immigration Act powers for the last six months of 2009 is published in table 9 of the Control of Immigration Quarterly Statistical Summary, United Kingdom Third
Quarter and Table 9.1 of the Control of Immigration Quarterly Statistical Summary, United Kingdom Fourth Quarter which are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office's Research, Development and Statistics website at:
Information on the average period of detention is not available, however Table 12 of the above publications show the length of time children were in detention as at the last day of each quarter.
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times Ministers have signed an authorisation for the detention of a child at an immigration removal centre beyond 28 days in each of the last six months. [322379]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 15 March 2010]: Local management information indicates that the following referrals for ministerial authorisation of the continued detention of a child beyond 28 days under Immigration Act powers have been made in each of the last six months. The information is shown in the following table:
| Month of initial referral | Number of families referred to the Minister for authorisation of detention of children beyond 28 days | Number of children referred to the Minister for authorisation of detention beyond 28 days |
| Notes: 1. The figures only included those cases where detention continued beyond 28 days and only the first referral for each child. 2. The figures provided do not constitute part of National Statistics as they are based on management information. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols and should be treated as provisional. | ||
National Statistics on children detained solely under Immigration Act powers on a snapshot basis are published quarterly. The information is published in the Control of Immigration: Quarterly Statistical Summary, United Kingdom bulletins which are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office's Research, Development and Statistics website at:
Immigration
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in each local authority area have been granted discretionary leave to remain in the UK in each year since 1997. [321087]
Mr. Woolas: Home Office do not maintain data on persons in each local authority area who have been granted discretionary leave to remain in the UK.
Information on the local authority that the individual was recorded to be residing in at the time of the grant of discretionary leave is not available and could only be obtained at disproportionate costs by examination of individual case records.
Internet: Safety
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will hold discussions with the owners of (a) Facebook and (b) other social networking sites on improving (i) online security and (ii) advice on security for users of such sites. [322016]
Mr. Alan Campbell: We take the safety of children and adults on the internet very seriously, and we created CEOP (the Child Exploitation and Online Protection) to develop a law enforcement capability to fight the sexual abuse of children in the online environment, and to provide a body to act as the national centre for this crime. CEOP have developed the "ClickCEOP" button for use on social networking and other sites, to allow users who feel threatened to report direct to CEOP.
We expect the providers of these sites to take the safety of their users seriously, and we would urge them to put the "ClickCEOP" button on their website.
The Home Secretary and I will be meeting Facebook shortly, to discuss online safety with them.
Offenders: Deportation
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 22 February 2010, Official Report, column 372W, on offenders: deportation, what the country of origin of each offender was; for what crime each was convicted; and from which institution each went missing. [319693]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 1 March 2010]: I shall let the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell have a reply as soon as possible.
Police: Birmingham
Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding was provided in Birmingham for (a) policing and (b) victim support services in each year since 1997. [321578]
Mr. Hanson: The information available can be found in the following tables. There is no available breakdown on figures just for Birmingham, as it is included in West Midlands figures.
| West Midlands victim support services funding | |
| Office of Criminal Justice Reform funding for victim support (£ million) | |
| Note: Figures provided by the Office of Criminal Justice Reform. | |
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